Heath RUFC 60 v 6 Selby RUFC

Report by Ian Marlow

Selby’s league struggles continued at Heath with an unprecedented mixture of injury, illness and unavailability leading to seven changes from the previous week’s team - and a heavy defeat at the hands of a strong and capable opposition. However, it is some solace that the effort and determination of all of those who did wear the Selby shirt never wavered and the team spirit shown by all right up until the final whistle was highly commendable.

With forward stalwarts Hardy and Miller unavailable from the front row and Captain Lanaghan from the second it was always going to be difficult up front against a hefty Heath pack, and so it proved, but replacements Bingle, Randall and Liddle, as well as replacement McGrory-Hill, did their duty and more and the whole pack although outgunned were never outfought. In the backs, Henry Levett came in as a late replacement to form a meaty centre partnership with the excellent Hogan while substitutes Simon Billingsley and Brad Lazenby came on in difficult circumstances with admirable tenacity and effect.

The first quarter of the match was evenly matched with Selby giving almost as good as they got. An early penalty and then try to Heath was countered by two Scott Hunt penalties following good spells of sustained pressure from Selby. However, that was where Selby’s scoring stopped and while blood and sweat do count for a lot, and Selby gave it in spades, it unfortunately showed for nothing on the scoreboard.

With Selby starting to struggle for possession the match began to become a rearguard action for them and while their defence was solid and committed Heath’s backs showed their class with four further first half tries, each of which showed excellent handling at pace leaving the half time score at 32-6.

The second half was a merely a continuation of the first, with Heath securing the lion’s share of possession and Selby scrapping tooth and nail to deny further scores. A series of injuries to Wilkinson, Parkinson, and Cicero, added further to Selby’s woes, as well as an already mile-long season’s injury list, but they continued to give it their all and it was never easy for Heath at any stage of the match. Heath did however show that they could still continue to score classy tries as they crossed for four more well worked efforts in the second half giving a somewhat misleading look to the final scoreboard and the effort they had to give to achieve it. In among Heath’s dominance and Selby’s indomitable team spirit there were some noticeable efforts from the visitors including Liam Hogan’s powerful running and Brad Lazenby, operating as an emergency wing but looked anything but, making a couple of solo rapier-like thrusts up the right wing to great effect.

Selby’s next game is this week at home to Guisborough in the Yorkshire Shield and the expected return of many from unavailability and injury will hopefully lead to an upturn in fortunes, particularly as a set of crucial league fixtures against fellow league strugglers follows.